An act of one’s subconscious mind – thoughts, images, and sensations that occur during sleep.

An act of one’s conscious heart – the feeling that beats inside you while awake. It’s in the air that you breathe; in the corners of your smile; the spark in your chest; the tingle of your tummy. The silly clichés; the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the ready-made plans for tomorrow, for the weekend, for next year, and after that; after you’ve saved enough money to go here and there; to buy that car; to escape that minimum-wage job. It’s the light in your eyes when you think of that one thing that makes you feel alive: a job, a destination, a person. You’re ready for that honey-soaked sun; that place far away from here; for that person who doesn’t exist. You’re ready for the things you’ll do later, and the people you’ll meet after.

Dreams slip through your fingers, like a balloon in the air; like silky water before it slivers from your hands and disappears down the drain. You wake up, rub the sleep out of your eyes, and you realise: Your heart and mind live inside you. My heart is not your heart. I paint words in the air, imagined, traced from your lips; poetry I wish you’d say; won’t you whisk me away - away from here. My mind is not your mind; it doesn’t matter. Just take me somewhere, anywhere. But you sew your lips together – and my dream turns into a nightmare.

Mikhaila Friel is in her third year at the University of Strathclyde, and is working towards a degree in English, Journalism & Creative Writing. She had her first poem published at the age of eleven, and has been publishing her work ever since. Last semester, she studied abroad at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, where she took creative writing classes, particularly focusing on poetry. She likes to use the fictional world to make sense of the real world; she believes that in this life, the only weapon you need is a pen.